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BBWAA dinner to honor Cardinals' past, future

BBWAA dinner to honor Cardinals' past, future

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By Jenifer Langosch
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MLB.com |

ST. LOUIS -- The 56th annual St. Louis Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) Dinner, scheduled for Jan. 19, will once again be a star-studded affair, this time highlighting the 2013 National League champions, as well as several prominent individuals from the organization's history.

The event will include tributes to Tony La Russa, recently named a member of the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Class, and Chris Carpenter, the former Cardinals ace who announced his retirement in November. Both are expected to be in attendance. There will also be time devoted to recognizing the 50th anniversary of the 1964 World Series championship team.

All players from the club who are still living were invited to attend, and several -- including Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Mike Shannon, Tim McCarver and Bob Uecker -- accepted.

Members of the 2013 Cardinals club will be featured prominently at the awards dinner so that fans can celebrate the club's recent World Series run. There will be three recipients of the J.G. Spink St. Louis Baseball Man of the Year Award, which recognizes the highest achievement. Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter and Adam Wainwright will be honored during this presentation.

Shelby Miller will receive the local baseball writers' chapter Rookie of the Year Award, while Jason Motte will be recognized as the Darryl Kile Award winner. That award, which is the only one voted on by players, has been given annually since 2003 to someone who personifies Kile's legacy as "a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man."

Matt Holliday, Trevor Rosenthal, Michael Wacha and Allen Craig will be among those honored for their outstanding achievement last season. A Gold Glove Award presentation will be featured for 2013 winners Wainwright and Molina. The organization's Minor League Pitcher (Zach Petrick) and Player (Kolten Wong) of the Year will also be invited to participate.

Tickets for the event are now on sale for $150 per person. A pass to the Cardinals' Winter Warm Up (regular price: $40) can be purchased for an additional $25 if bought with the dinner ticket.

The event has been relocated to the downtown Renaissance hotel, located at 800 Washington Avenue. The pre-event reception will begin at 5:45 pm CT, followed by dinner and an awards ceremony at 6:30. The Renaissance is offering a reduced parking fee -- $5 for self-parking, $10 for valet -- to the dinner guests.

Additional details about the event can be found by visiting the St. Louis BBWAA website (http://stlouisbbwaa.lockerdome.com/) and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Louis-Baseball-Writers-BBWAA/17369270267224). Tickets can be purchased through that website or by mailing a check to the following address:

Proceeds from the dinner, which is organized by a committee of writers and media members, benefit the St. Louis BBWAA Charitable Foundation. Those monies are used to offer several journalism scholarships at regional universities and to fund an annual sports writing internship at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a student attending the University of Missouri-Columbia.

While all award recipients have been invited to attend the January dinner, it cannot be guaranteed that all will be in attendance.